The Quinoa Thread

[ohiogoatgirl]

wait... nevermind.... found the quinoa in my catalog... oopsie ^.^

What page, I was looking for it the other day and kept missing it.

it is under "grains & other cover crops" and it has a huge pic of the plant on the inner part of the page, but you dont see the pic if you hold the catalog half open and flip through ^^ which is what i had been doing. i had to look through and all of each page before i found it.

 

[ohiogoatgirl]

the purpose of me growing these is to feed my animals. and maybe experiment with eating it myself, see if i like it.

i think previously on this thread someone said there seed went bad. i dont remember how they had said it was kept... i was thinking wouldnt the seed be fine if it were put in gallon freezer bags and stuck in the freezer? but i wonder would this mess with the seeds ability to sprout the next year? my pappa keeps all his seeds in the freezer... :/ hmm?

ya, my biggest thing with the amaranth and quinoa is i am wondering how hard the harvesting will be... though i dont think rinsing the quinoa before eating it or feeding it to the animals sounds so labor intensive. i mean i could toss the grains in a pillow case, twist the end and put a large clip on it, then swish it about in the tub.

and i am in zone 6A

 

[GreeneGarden]

The reason Quinoa is rinsed is because it is high in saponins which are toxic.
Rinsing never removes all the toxins.
When people are young, they can often handle it, but not so much when they get older.
Amaranth is high in oxalates which bind calcium.
These crops grow very easily, but are better for very short lived agricultural animals such as insects.
Amaranth is good as an attractor of beneficial insects.

http://www.gardenfornutrition.org/Nutrition_Food_Intolerance_and_the_Alternatives.html